There’s been a palpable euphoria here in Los Angeles since the Lakers locked down free agent Ron Artest last week. Purple (& Gold) Kool-aiders of course love the deal, but Wednesday ESPN NBA reporter Ric Bucher quietly made a serious claim about Artest on middle-of-the-night national radio that might delight the Laker haters among you.

While talking to late-night, White Castle drive-thru companion and ESPN Radio host Jason Smith, Bucher said that Artest has not cleaned up his act as a person.

So why don’t we all know that Artest hasn’t (apparently) changed his volatile, oft-erratic ways off the court? According to Bucher, the Rockets were exceptional at covering up Artest’s alleged indiscretions.

Hmmm. Now where do you think Bucher would get that kind of information?

Ric Bucher of ESPN reports tonight that Shaq is flying to Phoenix in the morning to take a physical and if everything proceeds without incident, the trade between the Heat and Suns will go through. That is, Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Heat for O’Neal. But, of course, consider the source.

Honestly, we’ve speculated on some things over the years that didn’t turn out the way we thought they would, but is there a respirating speciman outside the 860 that doesn’t emit a giggle every time they see or hear the sunbedded-soul patch give us another of his NBA *scoops*? This is a man who makes Peter Vecsey and Sam Smith resemble Hal 9000.